The short demonstrates how a person adopts their ability to solve problems through logical reasoning (the head) or through emotional passion (the heart). Adolf Hitler is shown to not have any reasoning, instead relying purely on emotion; it is explained that "Americans should control the emotion inside our head lest it control us — and make us vulnerable to Hitler's vile fearmongering."[4] Hitler's speeches and motivational tactics are shown as manipulative.[5]
Production
Reason and Emotion was directed by Bill Roberts, with animation by Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston, among others.[6] BlogofDeath explains: "During World War II, [Joe] Grant and animator Dick Huemer created gags and designs for many of Disney's patriotic-themed cartoons", including this film.[7]
In an August 1942 issue, LIFE magazine's "Walt Disney Goes to War" showed seven preliminary drawings for Reason and Emotion, and wrote: "Here are sketches from a new Disney short now being filmed. Like several of his short subjects, it is based on an idea offered by the U.S. Government, but done entirely at Disney's expense and released by him through RKO. It is presented as straight entertainment with wartime appeal. Disney tackles here the difficult subject of Reason and Emotion and brings it off brilliantly. Looking with X-ray eyes into human heads, he draws a humorously exaggerated portrait of Reason as a bespectacled professor, and Emotion as a cave man. When emotion runs wild, especially in the head of a Nazi, there is hell to pay. But Disney takes care to show that Emotion in its place is a good thing."[8]
IndieWire wrote: "Reason and Emotion is exactly the kind of thing that sticks in your mind because it is strange, a wartime film that used a visual metaphor to make a case about Americans keeping their calm during WWII."[10]
Additional media appearances
The cartoon characters "Reason" and "Emotion" also appear in the Upjohn Company's educational short animated feature, "Understanding Alcohol Use and Abuse", which was produced by Walt Disney Productions in 1979. This feature was the final installment of Upjohn's Triangle of Health series.
References
↑Scott, Keith (October 3, 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media. p.553.
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